When Pigs Fly… Friedman Calls for Secular, Democratic, Respectful Palestinian State

In a recent commentary, NY Times columnist Tom Friedman called for the birth of a secular Palestinian state where Arab Muslims and Christians, men and women, can thrive in a secular, but religiously respectful, free-market society next to a Jewish state. Friedman also believes Israel should give up more land.
The dude is serious.

And, he’s supposed to be the smart one at The New York Times.
YNet News reported:

New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman said that the rise of Islamists in Tunisia, Libya, Egypt and Syria has given Israel and the Palestinians “a greater incentive than ever to create an alternative model in the West Bank — a Singapore — to show that they, together, can give birth to a Palestinian state where Arab Muslims and Christians, men and women, can thrive in a secular, but religiously respectful, free-market, democratic context, next to a Jewish state.”

In an editorial addressing the stalled Mideast peace process, Friedman wrote that the Arab Spring has made an Israeli-Palestinian peace settlement “more urgent than ever.”

According to the editorial, published Tuesday, “it is now clear that Arab autocracies are being replaced with Islamist-populist parties. And, in Egypt, in particular, it is already clear that a key issue in the election will be the peace treaty with Israel. In this context, if Palestinian-Israeli violence erupts in the West Bank, there will be no firewall — the role played by former President Hosni Mubarak — to stop the flames from spreading directly to the Egyptian street…”

…According to the Jewish columnist, “Palestinians need to accompany every boycott, hunger strike or rock they throw at Israel with a map delineating how, for peace, they would accept getting back 95% of the West Bank and all Arab neighborhoods of East Jerusalem and would swap the other 5% for land inside pre-1967 Israel. Such an arrangement would allow some 75 % of the Jewish settlers to remain in the West Bank, while still giving Palestinians 100% of the land back.”

Friedman added: “By Palestinians engaging in nonviolent civil disobedience in the West Bank with one hand and carrying a map of a reasonable two-state settlement in the other, they will be adopting the only strategy that will end the Israeli occupation: Making Israelis feel morally insecure but strategically secure. The Iron Law of the peace process is that whoever makes the Israeli silent majority feel morally insecure about occupation but strategically secure in Israel wins.”

In a previous column Friedman argued that Barack Obama is possibly the most pro-Israel president in history.
That’s just bizarre.

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Jim Hoft is the founder and editor of The Gateway Pundit, one of the top conservative news outlets in America. Jim was awarded the Reed Irvine Accuracy in Media Award in 2013 and is the proud recipient of the Breitbart Award for Excellence in Online Journalism from the Americans for Prosperity Foundation in May 2016. In 2023, The Gateway Pundit received the Most Trusted Print Media Award at the American Liberty Awards.

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Thanks for sharing!